Hands On: Cyber Snipa Warboard Gaming Keyboard

Cyber Snipa’s Warboard is an intriguing entry in the already flooded gaming keyboard market. While dedicated macro buttons and an attempt at a slick look is nothing very new, offering gamers interchangeable keys to customize their boards isn’t exactly common, though Razer’s Tarantula offers similar options. Unfortunately for Ciber Snipa, the removable key idea isn’t implemented all that well, and with a $70 pricetag, there isn’t a whole lot more to make this keyboard worth the price.

The front of the board is covered in a shiny carbon fiber-like finish that’s nice enough, if you like that sort of thing. And blue LEDs key lock indicators certainly look a lot better than the standard green or yellow. Large, bulging media and volume buttons run across the top, and ten programmable macro keys run down each side.

The biggest button on the top of the keyboard is the crosshair-labeled Windows lock button, which disables the Windows key, saving you from accidentally minimizing your game mid-frag. It’s a nice touch, and certainly something other keyboard manufacturers should implement.

On to the Warboard’s main selling point, the interchangeable keys. The package includes a small ring key that makes pulling off keys as easy as could be. But this isn’t exactly a new feature because, as I first discovered at my high school library over a decade ago, most keyboard keys can be removed and rearranged, to the frustration of hunt-and-peck typists. Cyber Snipa though was smart enough to include 17 gray replacement keys that stand out against the black keys on the rest of the board, and make it easy to find the WASD, reload, and weapons keys with a quick glance. There’s a few problems with this idea though. If you need to label these keys, which are pretty much the same through all first person shooters and MMORPGs, you probably aren’t a gamer. And even if you are, and you need to take the time to look at the keyboard, you’ll probably be fragged before your eyeballs get back up to the screen. Of course, not all games are first person shooters, and an strategy gamer would benefit much more from this kind of keyboard customization. That’s what makes this keyboard all the more frustrating; nearly all the included replacement keys are FPS-themed.

Had Cyber Snipa thought to include more keys for the types of games that might actually benefit from this type of customization, or even offer them as a separate purchase online for a small fee, the Warboard would be a much more compelling purchase, especially if the price was closer to $40 than $70.

But at that price point, the Warboard is competing with excellent gaming boards that offer features like back-lit keys and LCD displays. The only lights on the Warboard are the blue LED lock lights, which are nice, but not worth the asking price. As it stands, the Warboard offers features aimed mostly at FPS and MMORPG gamers, that most gamers won’t feel the need to use. And while the ten macro keys will find favor with RTS and MMORPG fans, Logitech’s G15 offers 18 macro keys, an LCD screen, and backl-it keys, for about the same price online.

Cyber Snipa’s Warboard isn’t bad, it just can’t compete with offerings from other companies with more features at a similar price. Its interchangeable keys hold promise, but not enough thought was put into their possible use, and not enough replacement keys are included in the package. Perhaps the Warboard mark II will do a better job at realizing the first iteration’s potential, and hopefully do so at a lower price. But with its first Warboard gaming keyboard, Cyber Snipa has missed its mark.